RH-021 • Basic Funk Chords

Before you can get all funky with your strumming you need to know the basic chord shapes used in funk. So here are some of the most useful ones for you to play with before we look at the strumming of them.

Video Lesson

The Chord Grips

Remember for ALL these chords the R (root note) is going on the 7th fret. But you knew that already didn't you?

This is one of the most common chord grips. Very cool. This one has the 9th degree as the highest note.

Make sure that you keep your 2nd finger muting the thickest string.

This is a variation of the chord above but uses a little barre on the thinnest 3 strings. You want this one to have the 5th scale degree as the highest note. This also a very very common and useful funk grip.

Make sure that you keep your 2nd finger muting the thickest string.

This one is very similar the the chord above but you just reach out your little finger and get that 13th scale degree up there as the highest note. Might be a bit of a stretch but you'll get used to it.

Make sure that you keep your 2nd finger muting the thickest string.

This is a classic E7 shape, it has the root note as the highest note.

Make sure you get those outside two strings muted.

Here we have the other very common way of playing an E7.

This time the tip of your 1st finger will mute the 6th string.

Remember that you can lift the barre a little to get mute the thinnest string - I often don't like the sound of that 5th scale degree on top and by doing that you get the 3rd scale degree as the highest note.

This is a variation of the above chord - just slide the little finger forward a fret.

This chord is sometimes called E11, but this name is more correct, and more commonly used.

Remember that you can lift the barre a little to get mute the thinnest string - I often don't like the sound of that 5th scale degree on top and by doing that you get the 4th scale degree as the highest note.